David Shoebridge has taken a look at the budget from the defence side of things and this is what he has come up with:

The Albanese Government has cranked up funding for AUKUS to $18 billion over five years, largely as a tribute payment to President Trump, in the recent Federal Budget. 

This represents an additional $6 billion compared to last year’s budget for nuclear-powered submarines. This AUKUS cost will keep growing year by year, with a total project cost now hitting $375 billion.  

This is funding that will not be going towards the things the public needs, like dental and mental health into Medicare, public housing or funding public education. 

This budget also sees the Albanese Government paying $1.6 billion to make a nuclear submarine base for the US off the coast of Perth at HMAS Stirling. 

Labor has also budgeted to pay $445.4 million as a payment to “sustain” nuclear submarines over the next five years, which are submarines we don’t have. This funding will likely instead sustain US nuclear submarines, having Australian taxpayers subsidise Donald Trump’s military.

There will also be $28 million to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for “international policy advice and diplomatic support for the nuclear-powered submarine program.” Effectively, funding to send diplomats to beg Donald Trump to give us nuclear submarines. 

Largely due to AUKUS, the total Defence budget is now almost $59 billion a year and now makes up 6.6% of all Government expenditure.